Nokia has claimed to make the world’s first live immersive voice and audio call over a cellular network.

The call was made possible by the telecom giant’s new Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) codec technology, part of the forthcoming 5G Advanced standard, which allows users to experience sound spatially in real-time.

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As a result, Nokia President and CEO, Pekka Lundmark, conducted a live immersive audio and video call with Stefan Lindström, Finland’s Ambassador of Digitalisation and New Technologies.

During the call, Lundmark showcased the acoustic dimensions enabled by IVAS technology to Lindström from Nokia’s campus in Espoo.

The IVAS codec technology enables live spatial audio across any connected device, including smartphones, tablets, or PCs, fostering real-life interactions with three-dimensional sound.

Lundmark said: “We have demonstrated the future of voice calls. This groundbreaking audio technology takes you to the caller’s environment creating a spatial and massively improved listening experience for voice and video calls, offering significant benefits for enterprise and industrial applications.”

Lindström continued: “The live immersive voice and audio experience enabled by IVAS improves the richness and quality of the call, and the three-dimensional sound experience makes interaction more lifelike and engaging, bringing a wealth of new benefits to personal and professional communication. Immersive communications technology will also take XR and metaverse interaction to the next level.”

Nokia Technologies President, Jenni Lukander, concluded: “I am proud of the leading role Nokia’s researchers and engineers have played in creating these innovative immersive voice and audio technologies. Thanks to standardisation, the whole world will now benefit from this innovation.”